Total Rebuild of a 1979 Dodge Class C

[oldtrucker63]

I would say some of you have seen the start of this build that my brother bgriffey had posted, Well I have now bought the RV from him and plan to post the pixs of the build I have found a lot of rot in this RV I have torn out everything on the inside and have the rear opened up and the skin off the lower driver side, I will be buying a camera for my wife for christmas and im sure she will take the pixs if I can learn HOW to post them on here, Please remember its winter here in Kentucky so it will be slow but we will keep the pixs coming, Like I said this will be a total build from floor to walls and roof and custom inside build so I would appreciate all the help I can get this will be my first build and I will be learning as I go so any info will help. THANKS......Tony Griffey.

A new RV can be very expensive and if you already own an outdated RV then you should just consider a complete RV remodel which can be a significant amount of money cheaper than the cost of a brand new model. If you are retired and use your RV to travel then why not save the money for your travels rather than on spending a large chunk of money on a brand new travelling vacation home. When you decide to have an RV remodel done you can have your old model completely gutted and rebuilt to look just like a newer RV and when the work is done you will not even recognize your old mobile home. Going about having a new RV to travel in this way can save you thousands of dollars and you will not have to worry about the payments on a brand new RV home. Many retired people are travelling this way nowadays so they can travel the country and be comfortable while doing it, and there are many others that own these vehicles that they will take on summer family camping trips. The RV’s that are made today are unbelievable and have all of the luxuries of home at a fraction of the size, these make it great fir families and retired folks to travel comfortably, and having an RV remodel done you can make your old RV look just like a brand new one.

Statistics show that the amount of registered RV homes on the road is growing steadily every year, and much of this is due to the baby boomer generation retiring and wanting to travel the country in comfort and style. Having an RV remodel can make your RV brand new. Some things you may want to consider is having all new beds and appliances put in. Since RV appliances are smaller than your normal home kitchen appliances they are much cheaper, and a complete RV remodel will probably cost you anywhere from $5,000 to $12,000, depending on how many changes are being done. The latter price could even be a little more if you are having your RV completely gutted and redesigned. It will still save you a lot of money over purchasing a new RV home. Another thing to consider during your RV remodel is if you plan on just remodeling the inside or if you want to have the exterior redone as well, and if this is the case the project will cost more money but will still be cheaper than buying a new RV. Most of these vacationing and traveling vehicles have a type of siding on them, and the more modern ones are sometimes made of more durable fibreglasses and plastics, these materials are very nice since you do not ever have to worry about rusting.

If you plan on getting a loan out for this remodeling job then you will first want to get various estimates, much like a home remodeling project. Once you get all the estimates you want you can then apply for the amount of money through your financial institution or credit union. The amount of money you need should not be hard for you to get approved for, especially if you have good credit. If you are a retired individual you most likely can take the money out of your pension or 401 funds, and this would be your best bet due to interest rates. Usually the place where you originally bought the RV can do the remodel for you as well, and if they cannot they can usually refer you to someone who can do the job for you. With the popularity of these vehicles constantly growing there are also many new dealerships and shops that specialize in these vacation vehicles. Having a comfortable vehicle to travel year round in or to just vacation in yearly is a great asset and can also be a great stress reliever. It is also a very popular vehicle for families to use on family camping trips, and the nice thing is that if the kids want to rough it while camping they can just sent their tents up right outside the RV.

[oldtrucker63]

To me this look kinda funny....LOL...Anyway this is the best I can draw with this Computer Paint brush, The shower stall and the back wall with the window and some cool looking curtains That funny looking blue thing at the bottom is the toilet, The red line in the middle bath area is where the rear wall starts the Bend, To the right will be the bath/shower stall.....LOL I hope this helps to get the picture that I have in my head.

The blue lines is the curtains. Where the wall bends will also continue in the bunk area.

[oldtrucker63]

chinook440 wrote:
Maybe i,m not seeing things right ..... Is the wall in between the bathroom and the bunks gonna be in the middle of your rear window ?:h

Nope....The wall will be more to the passenger side of the RV, Lets see I think the measurement on the bunk side was 34" or 36" and the bath gets the rest, There will be a wall in behind the Tub/Shower this wall will cover part of the window OK From the tub/shower to the wall next to the bunk the window can be seen in the bath area, And there will be a small part of the window in the bunk area....I think when I get this finished and in the bath area the curtains are hung from the window and you look in from the bathroom door Ya'll will say WOW that looks cool.:S

[chinook440]

Maybe i,m not seeing things right ..... Is the wall in between the bathroom and the bunks gonna be in the middle of your rear window ?:h

[oldtrucker63]

Mike and Paula wrote:

oldtrucker63 wrote:
Best I can get right now, Anyway With Cabinets over the sink/Stove and over the table and fridge, A door at the bathroom and a curtain at the bunk door. As far as the measurements I can't get this Paint to type letters so right now I guess that is out....LOL:W

My question is how you going to finish in the bath/shower around that big rear window?

That rear window will be blacked out, Nothing seen from the outside looking in, And the only place to see out from the inside will be in the head of the bunk beds and maybe a small area in the bath area, This is still heads up, (In the making) What ever way it go's It will look good from the inside and out.:C LOL I guess from looking at the layout it is hard to see what I see in the end, But as we go along then it will start to show.

[oldtrucker63]

lzasitko wrote:
Don't know how thick your plastic is.... Last house I built we used 6mil and top, bottom where it meets the joists it was sealed with Acoustic sealant. It comes in either small tubes or the large tubes depending on what kind of caulking gun you have. The stuff never dries out. All joints the same thing overlap on a joist and Acoustic sealant on the joist as well as in between the plastic where it overlaps. Any holes through walls were sealed using the same stuff. In the end it really cuts down on cold infiltration. The sealant is nasty n one way, if you get it on cloths you will never get it out, I've tried! but the best thing is that it does the job and is cheap. I have seen others tape all the joints to seal but I feel the sealant works better and will not let go. At the bottom of the walls we also ran a bead of sealant to seal any gap between floor and wall. As well as that we also ran a thin foam sheet under the wall to again seal it all. Some may be difficult to do at this stage but....

Just a thought...

I think this plastic is about 6 mil also, I have been overlapping the ends and same at the top where the wall meets the ceiling, I think this will seal everything air tight, I never thought of using Acoustic sealant to seal them I wished I would have though but its to late for that, For the most part, I can still seal it at the floor and I will do that, I'm just trying to get everything air tight.

[oldtrucker63]

tboss wrote:
In my unit my tub surround dont go all the way to the ceiling ,it has abt 10 inch clearance for any slope the wall and ceiling might have,,,,

This one will not go all the way to the top, like yours it is 63" tall It should look great when all built in.

[oldtrucker63]

John H wrote:
In looking over the floorplan of other RV's on the one wall, finish inside outer wall,

A Double bed is-- 52"w. x 72"L.
Dinette is -- 42"w. x 70"L.
2 Wall partition 4" 1/2" total
(2"thick + 1/8" & 1/8" wall materal)
Frig. depending on size.

On that wall,(foot of the bed & frig sides) you will want a solid piece of wood to attach the top plate to, As I said before, if this does not fall directly under a rafter you will want to attach at least 2 cross (more like three) pieces between the two nearest rafters to fasten it to. Before appling ceiling insulation ~~~not much room above.

Ok,Is it just me on page 167, does the lower part of that back wall slope in. If so by putting that tubs end perpindicular to that outer back wall are you allowing for the extra height that that wall will take away from the setting of that tub. this because you have to get into the tub, with a set height of that ceiling. It was designed to go on the floor and against a corner wall.

In construction there is a minimun set CONFORTABLE width (shoulder) for the carpender in his lay-out to allow between bathrooms obstructions, to set the toilet. Then to allow the plumber to cut his hole, centered, for the floor ring/waste. May be others with RV's handy can measure their distances between their obsticles, to give you an idea how far out that outer bath wall will be.

I'm going to build a back wall inside of the slope rear wall for the bath area, And the inside sloped wall will be boxed at the lower part for room to put the shore power cord, And to box the tail light into, I will have to get the tub and set it in before I build this rear wall that will be only right behind the tub, Just outside the tub the wall will then go back to a slope.

[oldtrucker63]

tenbear wrote:
Trucker, you have mentioned the black tank in some of your posts but I don't see a toilet. What am I missing?

Edit: Oops, I guess "Bath" is bathroom and includes the toilet.

Yes the toilet is going to be where that Lil O is in the bath.

[Mike_and_Paula]

oldtrucker63 wrote:
Best I can get right now, Anyway With Cabinets over the sink/Stove and over the table and fridge, A door at the bathroom and a curtain at the bunk door. As far as the measurements I can't get this Paint to type letters so right now I guess that is out....LOL:W

My question is how you going to finish in the bath/shower around that big rear window?

[John_H]

tboss,
You don't see what I mean. or maybe I wasn't clear. Lets see,,,,,,,,take a cross section looking into the tub area., back to the bunk area. On the left that back outer wall slopes on the bottom in, from perpendicular or even maybe sloping out, To. it looks about 12"-14" high, to oh, about 6" out. Now set a tub down, will the height of the vacant space below that tube on its left, be as such to allow the tub to set on the floor before striking the slanted walls slope? Or will the tub have to be raised to accommodate the wall cut in ?

Then he has the back window in his lay out. Trucker, from your floor plan, are you planing to frame a stud wall into the windows center? how do you intend to have a window in the shower wall, and then seal it ? If buying a tub surround, or for that matter any shower wall sheeting. You will have to build a stud wall. 3 sides. And as I tried to convince you earlier, NOW, NOW is the time to include the framing needed for future hanging wall penetrations. One being to put a solid stud running next to the outer edges of your tub, with side to side wood supports from stud to stud at this height. This allows a solid wood backing to mount your shower rod ends to, a lot of stress here !!!! Figure out where in this area you plan to have towel bar/s and put a solid wood transverse between studs for the screwed ends !!! Toilet paper holders, to save space part of it can be mounted into the wall, will require a reinforced surrounding area !!! High point Cabinets--Since these will hold weight, not counting then selves, shorten the studs spacing in this area, then mark the location on the floor with a good black ink pen. When the wall material it put up you will have a reference point of where they are located, behind that blank wall !!! Medication cabinets- located on the outer wall, or inter wall, needs framing.,, Inter wall, could be inserted into inter wall to save space !!! Toilet---unless you have spent the big bucks for the chair height 16"-171/2" toilets, you know the comfortable ones. The ones where you do not need a bar to help you get up, Anyway if you have the lower ones, you can frame in a riser for the comfortable height !!! Ceiling fan--condensation/odor. Lighting--means pre wiring before ceiling, and possible a light can !!! Wall switch, easy access rather than reaching up above on the ceiling. Requires a stud location, NOT,, the stud used for the door sides.

Question; was in the original design, was there some sort of couch or bed running along in that back wall. As this would have made sense to me. In that big back window (for the view, since now a lot of RV are designing theirs to do this and usually putting a set of recliners in that area) also since that couch/bed sitting height would have been high enough to accommodate the slope of the wall underneath, with no negative effect, due to the storage space/doors below the sitting area ??

Now same cross section as above, (pg.177) the outer bathroom wall, the one forward. When it is framed in what does it do to the side window, the one on the drivers side?

Oh forgot one more thing, are you black & gray water tanks located behind the back axle, on the overhang ? Then where have you placed the fresh water tank ?

[tboss]

In my unit my tub surround dont go all the way to the ceiling ,it has abt 10 inch clearance for any slope the wall and ceiling might have,,,,

[lzasitko]

Don't know how thick your plastic is.... Last house I built we used 6mil and top, bottom where it meets the joists it was sealed with Acoustic sealant. It comes in either small tubes or the large tubes depending on what kind of caulking gun you have. The stuff never dries out. All joints the same thing overlap on a joist and Acoustic sealant on the joist as well as in between the plastic where it overlaps. Any holes through walls were sealed using the same stuff. In the end it really cuts down on cold infiltration. The sealant is nasty n one way, if you get it on cloths you will never get it out, I've tried! but the best thing is that it does the job and is cheap. I have seen others tape all the joints to seal but I feel the sealant works better and will not let go. At the bottom of the walls we also ran a bead of sealant to seal any gap between floor and wall. As well as that we also ran a thin foam sheet under the wall to again seal it all. Some may be difficult to do at this stage but....

Just a thought...

[John_H]

In looking over the floorplan of other RV's on the one wall, finish inside outer wall,

A Double bed is-- 52"w. x 72"L.
Dinette is -- 42"w. x 70"L.
2 Wall partition 4" 1/2" total
(2"thick + 1/8" & 1/8" wall materal)
Frig. depending on size.

On that wall,(foot of the bed & frig sides) you will want a solid piece of wood to attach the top plate to, As I said before, if this does not fall directly under a rafter you will want to attach at least 2 cross (more like three) pieces between the two nearest rafters to fasten it to. Before appling ceiling insulation ~~~not much room above.

Ok,Is it just me on page 167, does the lower part of that back wall slope in. If so by putting that tubs end perpindicular to that outer back wall are you allowing for the extra height that that wall will take away from the setting of that tub. this because you have to get into the tub, with a set height of that ceiling. It was designed to go on the floor and against a corner wall.

In construction there is a minimun set CONFORTABLE width (shoulder) for the carpender in his lay-out to allow between bathrooms obstructions, to set the toilet. Then to allow the plumber to cut his hole, centered, for the floor ring/waste. May be others with RV's handy can measure their distances between their obsticles, to give you an idea how far out that outer bath wall will be.

[tenbear]

Trucker, you have mentioned the black tank in some of your posts but I don't see a toilet. What am I missing?

Edit: Oops, I guess "Bath" is bathroom and includes the toilet.

[oldtrucker63]

Best I can get right now, Anyway With Cabinets over the sink/Stove and over the table and fridge, A door at the bathroom and a curtain at the bunk door. As far as the measurements I can't get this Paint to type letters so right now I guess that is out....LOL:W